Science Talent Academy is a two-year science study programme for talented young students attending upper-secondary schools in Denmark.
The programme involves each student attending: seven talent camps with high scientific ambition; a work-experience stay abroad; and a final project to be carried out in collaboration with a research centre or a company. The programme runs in parallel with their regular school curriculum and gives these talented young students challenges that many of them lack in school.
In addition to inspiring and engaging talented young students and thereby giving them the impetus to continue improving their scientific skills and pursue a career in the field, the study programme also contributes to creating additional links and collaboration in the education chain between upper-secondary schools, universities, researchers, and business.
The programme was developed together with leading research centres and universities within bioscience research.
The goal is a programme with 180 talented young students from years 2 and 3 attending the Higher Technical Examination Programme (HTX) and general upper-secondary schools (STX) divided into three annual classes of 60 students.
ScienceTalents is responsible for the programme to develop science talent nationally among children and 12–20-year olds since 2010. ScienceTalents has many projects: they inspire and teach teachers; develop and hold talent camps and study programmes for talented students; and actively work to integrate talent development into the daily routine at primary and lower-secondary schools and upper-secondary schools in Denmark. ScienceTalents is based at the Mærsk Science Center in Sørø.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation supported the establishment of the Science Talent Academy with a grant of DKK 9 million between 2016–2020. This was followed up with a further grant of DKK 12.5 million for 2021-2025.
